Abstract
This study sought to evaluate the candidacy of plasma osteopontin (OPN) as a biomarker of COVID-19 severity and multisystem inflammatory condition in children (MIS-C) in children. A retrospective analysis of 26 children (0-21 years of age) admitted to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta with a diagnosis of COVID-19 between March 17 and May 26, 2020 was undertaken. The patients were classified into three categories based on COVID-19 severity levels: asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic (control population, admitted for other non-COVID-19 conditions), mild/moderate, and severe COVID-19. A fourth category of children met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s case definition for MIS-C. Residual blood samples were analyzed for OPN, a marker of inflammation using commercial ELISA kits (R&D), and results were correlated with clinical data. This study demonstrates that OPN levels are significantly elevated in children hospitalized with moderate and severe COVID-19 and MIS-C compared to OPN levels in mild/asymptomatic children. Further, OPN differentiated among clinical levels of severity in COVID-19, while other inflammatory markers including maximum erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein and ferritin, minimum lymphocyte and platelet counts, soluble interleukin-2R, and interleukin-6 did not. We conclude OPN is a potential biomarker of COVID-19 severity and MIS-C in children that may have future clinical utility. The specificity and positive predictive value of this marker for COVID-19 and MIS-C are areas for future larger prospective research studies.
Keywords: COVID-19; MIS-C; SARS-CoV-2; biomarker; osteopontin; pediatrics.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Biomarker, MIS-C, pediatrics., osteopontin, 【초록키워드】 Inflammation, Biomarker, Hospitalized, severe COVID-19, children, severity, inflammatory markers, COVID-19 severity, interleukin-6, C-reactive protein, ferritin, prevention, MIS-C, Predictive value, lymphocyte, specificity, pediatrics, interleukin, Positive predictive value, Asymptomatic, symptomatic, disease control, Research, Patient, Control, Platelet, Retrospective analysis, plasma, age, Inflammatory marker, moderate, marker, osteopontin, Atlanta, erythrocyte sedimentation, platelet counts, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, Non-COVID-19, sedimentation rate, Clinical data, blood sample, clinical utility, center, ELISA kit, inflammatory condition, residual, analyzed, evaluate, significantly, elevated, correlated, category, conditions, diagnosis of COVID-19, 【제목키워드】 Inflammatory, pilot study, syndrome,